英语PK台 第499期:孩子爱撒谎,大人们还不知道的事

 　　So for the last 20 years, I've been studying how children learn to tell lies. And today, I'm going to share with you some of the discoveries we have made. Three common beliefs we have about children and lying: One, children only come to tell lies after entering elementary school. Two, children are poor liars¹. We adults can easily detect their lies. And three, if children lie at a very young age, there must be some character flaws with them, and they are going to become pathological liars for life. Well, it turns out all of the three beliefs are wrong.

　　在过去的二十年， 我一直在研究孩子们如何学会撒谎。 今天我将与给分享我们的一些成果。很好的总结了三个我们对于孩子撒谎的常识。第一，孩子通常在上小学后开始撒谎。第二，孩子不会撒谎成人可以简单地识破他们。第三，如果孩子很早就开始撒谎那么他们一定有一些人格缺陷，并且一生都将是病态的撒谎者。然而结果是，这三个认识都是错的

　　We have been playing guessing games with children all over the world. But in the middle of the game, we make an excuse and leave the room. Because the desire to win the game is so strong, more than 90 percent of children will peek² as soon as we leave the room. We found that regardless of gender³, country, religion, after four years of age, most children lie. So as you can see, lying is really a typical part of development. And some children begin to tell lies as young as two years of age.

　　我们一直和全世界的孩子们一起玩竞猜游戏。在游戏的中间，我们会借故离开。因为孩子太想赢这个游戏，超过90%的孩子在我们离开后马上偷偷看了卡片。我们发现无论性别国籍宗教信仰，大于四岁的孩子绝大部分都在撒谎。如您所见，撒谎是成长典型的一部分。很多孩子在2岁的时候就已经学会了撒谎。

　　So now, let's take a closer look at the younger children. Why do some but not all young children lie? The first key ingredient is theory of mind, or the mind-reading ability. Mind reading is important for lying because the basis of lying is that I know you don't know what I know. Therefore, I can lie to you. The second key ingredient for good lying is self-control. It is the ability to control your speech, your facial expression and your body language, so that you can tell a convincing lie.

　　现在我们仔细研究小孩子。为什么不是所有的孩子都撒谎？第一个是心智理论，换言之读心的能力。读心能力在撒谎时很重要因为撒谎从根本上说就是我知道你不知道我知道。因此我的谎言成功了。第二个撒谎的关键因素是自我控制控制语言控制面部表情控制身体动作。这样的谎言才让人信服。

　　And we found that those young children who have more advanced mind-reading and self-control abilities tell lies earlier and are more sophisticated liars. As it turns out, these two abilities are also essential for all of us to function well in our society. In fact, deficits⁴ in mind-reading and self-control abilities are associated with serious developmental problems, such as ADHD and autism. So if you discover your two-year-old is telling his or her first lie, instead of being alarmed, you should celebrate—because it signals that your child has arrived at a new milestone⁵ of typical development.

　　我们发现那些小孩子中读心能力和自我控制能力更强的更早开始说谎也成为了更老练的撒谎者。事实证明这两种能力在社会中也是至关重要的。并且读心能力和自我控制能力不足经常和一些严重的发展问题比如多动症和自闭症联系在一起。所以当你发现你二岁的孩子开始撒谎不要惊慌你应该庆幸——因为这意味着你的孩子进入了典型发展的新的里程碑。

　　So when children lie, their facial expression is typically neutral. However, behind this neutral expression, the child is actually experiencing a lot of emotions, such as fear, guilt⁶, shame and maybe a little bit of liar's delight. Unfortunately, such emotions are either fleeting⁷ or hidden. Therefore, it's mostly invisible to us. So in the last five years, we have been trying to figure out a way to reveal these hidden emotions.

　　所以孩子撒谎是他们的面部表情是很自然的。然而在自然的表情背后孩子在体验一系列的感情有害怕，内疚，羞耻也许还有一点骗人的喜悦。可是这些表情或一闪而过或被隐藏的很好，对于我们来说很难捕捉。所以过去的五年中我们一直在寻找挖掘隐藏的表情的办法。

　　Then we made a discovery. We know that underneath⁸ our facial skin, there's a rich network of blood vessels⁹. When we experience different emotions, our facial blood flow changes subtly. So to help us reveal people's facial emotions, we have developed a new imaging technology we call "transdermal optical imaging."

　　后来我们有了发现。我们知道在脸的皮肤下面是丰富的血管网络。在我们经历不同的情感的时候，我们面部血液流动也会稍微改变。我们可以发现人们隐藏的表情。所以我们设计了新的图像技术来帮助我们捕捉人们的面部表情。我们叫它“透皮光学成像”。

　　Of course, lying is not the only situation that will evoke¹⁰ our hidden emotions. So then we asked ourselves, in addition to detecting lies, how can our technology be used? One application is in education. And also we can use this in health care. We can also use this in marketing¹¹ research. We can even use it in dating. So transdermal optical imaging technology is at a very early stage of development. Many new applications will come about that we don't know today. However, one thing I know for sure is that lying will never be the same again.

　　当然撒谎并不是激发隐藏表情的唯一情况。所以我们思考，除了测试谎言之外，这项技术还可以用来做什么？在教育领域可以应用这门技术。这门技术同时可以用在健康护理上；这项技术也可以用于市场调查；我们甚至可以用在约会上。所以透皮光学成像技术仅仅处于起步阶段。将来会有更多意想不到的新应用出现。然而我坚信研究谎言的未来 将会因此变得不同。

1 liars   

说谎者( liar的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The greatest liars talk most of themselves. 最爱自吹自擂的人是最大的说谎者。
• Honest boys despise lies and liars. 诚实的孩子鄙视谎言和说谎者。

2 peek   

vi.偷看，窥视；n.偷偷的一看，一瞥

参考例句：

• Larry takes a peek out of the window.赖瑞往窗外偷看了一下。
• Cover your eyes and don't peek.捂上眼睛，别偷看。

3 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

4 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

5 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

6 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

7 fleeting   

adj.短暂的，飞逝的

参考例句：

• The girls caught only a fleeting glimpse of the driver.女孩们只匆匆瞥了一眼司机。
• Knowing the life fleeting,she set herself to enjoy if as best as she could.她知道这种日子转瞬即逝，于是让自已尽情地享受。

8 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

9 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 evoke   

vt.唤起，引起，使人想起

参考例句：

• These images are likely to evoke a strong response in the viewer.这些图像可能会在观众中产生强烈反响。
• Her only resource was the sympathy she could evoke.她以凭借的唯一力量就是她能从人们心底里激起的同情。

11 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。